Welcome, Guest. Please Login
 
  HomeHelpSearchLogin FAQ Radified Ghost.Classic Ghost.New Bootable CD Blog  
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send Topic Print
CD/DVD Write Option Unavailable (Read 28216 times)
GhostQuest
N00b
Offline



Posts: 3


Back to top
CD/DVD Write Option Unavailable
Nov 30th, 2006 at 2:48pm
 
First off, thank you for all the valuable information I was able to find on these forums yesterday before purchasing Norton Save and Restore, and today when trying to make it work!

I am trying to make an image backup of a PC with one drive by writing directly to an internal DVD burner. Using NSR to do this, things pretty well locked up after about 5 DVD's (SYSTEM went to near full cpu usage and stayed there until I unplugged the PC - no idea why as everything 'appeared' to be proceeding well). So much for hot imaging!

Next I followed the instructions for making a BartPE CD with ghost32.exe (restoreghost.exe) and ghostexp.exe, including editing ghost.inf to delete the ghostsrv and ghostcdr lines. I included the ghost 8 plugin, and the ATAPI plugin (downloaded the 4.71 drivers from Adaptec per the BartPE site).

I am able to boot the BartPE CD, but when I start Ghost it notifies "CD/DVD writing unavailable" (or words to that effect). I seem unable to get past this step, and I am hoping that someone here can help me.

I checked my CD/DVD burner against the list on the Symantec web site for Ghost 8 compatibility, and it is (apparently) a newer version on one that is listed (a Hitachi-LG). My PC is about 6 months olds - a Dell Dimension E510. Running Windows XP/MCE, fully patched.

I have read through everything on the forum that seemed remotely related (more than once!), so please excuse me if I have missed something obvious.

PS: I purchased the download version of NSR, in case that matters.
 
 
IP Logged
 

Brian
Demigod
******
Offline



Posts: 6345
NSW, Australia


Back to top
Re: CD/DVD Write Option Unavailable
Reply #1 - Nov 30th, 2006 at 3:46pm
 
GhostQuest,

Welcome to hot imaging. You mentioned you have a desktop PC with one HD. Could you let us know if the HD is partitioned? What are the partition sizes and the amount of free space in each partition? Do you have an external HD? Any spare HDs that you could use as a second internal HD?

First up, Ghost 8.2 and BartPE. You don't have ghostcdr.dll in your plugin so you can't write to CD/DVD. This file is present in the full version of Ghost 8.* but isn't present in S & R. Unfortunately. That's why you have to delete the ghostcdr line.

Ghost 9/10/S & R and writing direct to DVD is hit and miss. It works on some computers and not others. When it does work it is a very slow way to create backup images. A faster way is to write the backup image to a HD in 4480 MB splits and later burn those files to DVDs with Nero etc. I wouldn't like to restore a backup image from DVDs. It is a slow nightmare of disc shuffling. Let's say you had 5 discs then the order would be 1 5 1 5 1 2 3 4 5 1. Only keep an image backup on DVDs if it's a last resort or if it is a secondary backup.
 
 
IP Logged
 
El_Pescador
Übermensch
*****
Offline


Thumbs Up!

Posts: 1605
Bayou Country, USA


Back to top
Re: CD/DVD Write Option Unavailable
Reply #2 - Nov 30th, 2006 at 3:57pm
 
GhostQuest wrote on Nov 30th, 2006 at 2:48pm:
"... Next I followed the instructions for making a BartPE CD with ghost32.exe (restoreghost.exe) and ghostexp.exe, including editing ghost.inf to delete the ghostsrv and ghostcdr lines. I included the ghost 8 plugin, and the ATAPI plugin (downloaded the 4.71 drivers from Adaptec per the BartPE site).

I am able to boot the BartPE CD, but when I start Ghost it notifies "CD/DVD writing unavailable" (or words to that effect). I seem unable to get past this step, and I am hoping that someone here can help me.

I checked my CD/DVD burner against the list on the Symantec web site for Ghost 8 compatibility, and it is (apparently) a newer version on one that is listed (a Hitachi-LG). My PC is about 6 months olds - a Dell Dimension E510. Running Windows XP/MCE, fully patched..."

I have been down the same path you are following, and sadly without result.  CLICK HERE to see where
optical drives
are not on the menu after all.  At first, I was "tongue-in-cheek" about the issue of going for Corporate Licensing of Norton Ghost Ver 8.2, but now I am ready to get serious if I can find nine other like-minded souls.

NightOwl wrote on May 22nd, 2006 at 9:07pm:
"... Well, let's see--a Corporate Ghost license runs about $40 each with a minimum of 10 licenses
--maybe we could get together and send Rad $40 each--and if we can find 10 folks to go along--Rad could purchase the 10 licenses and then distribute the copies to the 10 investors..."

...
Vas ist 'License Software' und 'License Certificate' Roll Eyes


EP
Cry

 

...
WWW  
IP Logged
 
NightOwl
Radministrator
*****
Offline


"I tought I saw a puddy
tat..."

Posts: 5826
Olympia, WA--Puget Sound--USA


Back to top
Re: CD/DVD Write Option Unavailable
Reply #3 - Nov 30th, 2006 at 9:48pm
 
El_Pescador

Because direct saving of a Ghost image to CD or DVD is so *slooooooow*, I would suggest that the investment in a second HDD (internal or external USB) to save images to would be a far better use of your funds!

And if you really want copies of the image files saved on CD's or DVD's--then burn them later onto optical media from within Windows--much faster--and Ghost32 v8.2 will be able to read them from the Ghost 10 Recovery Environment if they're needed!

Maybe not as satisfying as making Ghost32 v8.2 have its full capabilities--but perhaps a *better* solution in the long run  Wink !
 

____________________________________________________________________________________________

No question is stupid ... but, possibly the answers are Wink !
 
IP Logged
 
El_Pescador
Übermensch
*****
Offline


Thumbs Up!

Posts: 1605
Bayou Country, USA


Back to top
Re: CD/DVD Write Option Unavailable
Reply #4 - Nov 30th, 2006 at 10:49pm
 
NightOwl wrote on Nov 30th, 2006 at 9:48pm:
"... Because direct saving of a Ghost image to CD or DVD is so *slooooooow*, I would suggest that the investment in a second HDD (internal or external USB) to save images to would be a far better use of your funds!..."

There you go again - thinking rationally.  Admittedly, your assessment of the sitiuation is "spot-on" - as usual.

Nonetheless, despite my graying beard and snaggled teeth, I am quite infantile in wanting that which I cannot have - in this case it is Symantec Ghost Solution Suite 1.1 Shocked  As a small boy, I was forever taking wind-up clocks apart just to see what made them tick Roll Eyes

EP
Cry

 

...
WWW  
IP Logged
 
NightOwl
Radministrator
*****
Offline


"I tought I saw a puddy
tat..."

Posts: 5826
Olympia, WA--Puget Sound--USA


Back to top
Re: CD/DVD Write Option Unavailable
Reply #5 - Dec 1st, 2006 at 1:05am
 
El_Pescador

Quote:
As a small boy, I was forever taking wind-up clocks apart just to see what made them tick

Hey--me too!  I put one back together--set the alarm for 7:00 am--and when it went off at 3:00 am--well, I still took things apart--but I didn't use that alarm clock again  Wink !

 

____________________________________________________________________________________________

No question is stupid ... but, possibly the answers are Wink !
 
IP Logged
 

GhostQuest
N00b
Offline



Posts: 3


Back to top
Re: CD/DVD Write Option Unavailable
Reply #6 - Dec 2nd, 2006 at 1:29pm
 
I began reading your replies Thursday before real life intervened for a bit. You went beyond my original questions, which is great! Here is where I'm at now:

I suspected that the ghostcdr.dll file had the cd/dvd support, but wasn't sure. Even at the quantity rate (if we got a group together as suggested) $40 is a bit steep for just that function, especially if it's as slow as you say. The NSR writing was slow enough. BTW, the corporate quantity license might not apply to an order from a group of individual entities (like people!). Have to read the license to know, but I doubt it would.

After reading your advice, I broke down and ordered a second hard drive. I'll do an image to there from time to time, and copy it to DVD for storage elsewhere. Fires happen too, right?

I have a second, older (much) machine with a (now) small first hard drive (30GB) and a second hard drive (160GB). I used a BartPE CD with Ghost32 to make an image of C onto the second drive. It made a very small '0' file along with a bunch of files about 2GB or 2.2GB in size each (that PC is not on right now). I used the Ghost32 menu options, I did not attempt to use any custom switches. I Figure I can copy those to the new PC (with the DVD writer) and copy them to DVD. As I didn't request it, I was lucky that it make small enough files, which leads to...

Brian, you mentioned split size of the ghosted image. How do I control that from within those Ghost32 menus (running in the BartPE)?

You also mentioned that on restore (from a DVD but with only 1 hard drive) that "Let's say you had 5 discs then the order would be 1 5 1 5 1 2 3 4 5 1". My system has two CD/DVD drives (one burner one read only). If I still had only one hard drive, would the same still apply or could I cut down on disk swapping by using both optical drives? Even though I will have a second drive on both systems, I think it's important to understand this. I might have a failure where I need to use the second drive as the only drive for a time, for example.

BTW, are the images created by Ghost essentially ISO-like files, meaning that I should burn them to DVD in the same fashion? Or, should I just create an ordinary data disk and copy them to it?

You mentioned that the Ghost 10 recovery environment would be able to read thh DVD's. Does that go for the NSR (Norton Save and Restore) recovery environment? That's what I purchased.

Brian also asked " Welcome to hot imaging. You mentioned you have a desktop PC with one HD. Could you let us know if the HD is partitioned? What are the partition sizes and the amount of free space in each partition? Do you have an external HD? Any spare HDs that you could use as a second internal HD?"

I think I've answered except the partitioning and free space. Free space is 176GB, the 'only' partition shows up as 228GB. I put only in quotation marks because there may be one or two hidden partitions. I started (I think it's called) diskpart on the BartPE CD to look for sure to answer your question, but it didn't run. The command line window opened (like with Ghost8.2), but then just exited without starting any partition program. Not wanting to take any chances on screwing up the system before I get a good image, I decided to leave well-enough alone for now. As best I remember the disk itself is supposed to be 250GB.

This system shipped without any OS, drivers, etc. CD's. There is a piece of cardboard saying how to recover, and with a web address to visit to request copies of CD's if I want them. Dell put all the necessary stuff on the hard drive in a separate area. Having been in or overseeing IT for more than 25 years, that didn't  float my boat. I visited the web site and it had no such instructions, et al. I called support and they were very forthcoming (and great to deal with), sending me a about six CD's in just a couple of days.

"Nonetheless, despite my graying beard and snaggled teeth, I am quite infantile in wanting that which I cannot have ..." El_Pescador, I thought it was just me!

About six+ months ago we got a new computer. The old one is still kicking. When we got it (nearly 7 years ago) the previous 'old one' wasn't much use for long. I had a second laser printer laying around, 300 dpi but it worked fine when I last had it hooked up. That was a long time ago. I set it up on the (now) old PC. It refused to power up. Long story short, I took it apart to see what I could see. Couldn't get it all the way apart (unless I resorted to serious destruction, and I was trying to fix it). Aborted and put it back together - sort of. When I finished I had screws left over ... Wife did the 'I told you so' routine!
 
 
IP Logged
 
El_Pescador
Übermensch
*****
Offline


Thumbs Up!

Posts: 1605
Bayou Country, USA


Back to top
Re: CD/DVD Write Option Unavailable
Reply #7 - Dec 2nd, 2006 at 6:27pm
 
GhostQuest wrote on Dec 2nd, 2006 at 1:29pm:
"... I used a BartPE CD with Ghost32 to make an image of C onto the second drive. It made a very small '0' file along with a bunch of files about 2GB or 2.2GB in size each (that PC is not on right now)..."

...
In the image above, I have performed "(whole)disk-to-image" Norton Ghost Backups of my MASTER HDD for the months of November and December on the NTFS partition of my SLAVE HDD, and it is evident the respective Ghost images are actually sets of 2GB *.gho/*.ghs files.  The December set was created with Ghost Ver 8.2 from a BartPE/Reatogo-X-PE CD while the November set was created with Ghost 2003 through the GUI in Windows XP Home Edition.  
Either set of Ghost Backup image files can be addressed by either Ver 8.2 or by Ver 2003 as they are totally compatible and interchangeable
.

I have on hand installation CDs for: (1) Norton Ghost 10; (2) Norton Save & Restore; and (3) the Symantec Recovery Disk CD included with the Norton SystemWorks 2006 Premier suite.  As far as using them to boot into the Windows Preinstalled Environment of a Ghost Recovery Disk, they all seem to function identically.

EP
Cry
 

...
WWW  
IP Logged
 
NightOwl
Radministrator
*****
Offline


"I tought I saw a puddy
tat..."

Posts: 5826
Olympia, WA--Puget Sound--USA


Back to top
Re: CD/DVD Write Option Unavailable
Reply #8 - Dec 3rd, 2006 at 12:46pm
 
GhostQuest

Brian does not appear to be available at the moment--probably fishing  Cheesy --so I'll answer a couple of your questions:

Quote:
Brian, you mentioned split size of the ghosted image. How do I control that from within those Ghost32 menus (running in the BartPE)?


Part I:

There is no option once into the Ghost32 v8.2 GUI interface to control *splits*.  Ghost32 v8.2 is based on the DOS version of Ghost that is started from a DOS command line--and you can use *
Switches
* to control much of the behavior of DOS Ghost.

Turns out that Ghost32 v8.2 also accepts many of the same switches--so you have to open a command window in the directory where the Ghost32 v8.2 (aka RESTOREGHOST.EXE) is located, and start the Ghost32 v8.2 program with a command line load statement.

I don't use BartPE--so I don't know if you can open a *command window* in BartPE, and I don't know were the Ghost32 v8.2 program is located--hopefully Brian will be along and can answer that question!

Because Ghost32 v8.2 is designed to be compatible with the DOS versions of Ghost--DOS has a file size limit of approx. 2 GB--so the files created by Ghost32 v8.2 will be up to that size limit.

In another forum thread, the max size of data that a DVD can hold was stated to be
4482 MB
.  Dividing that by 2 gives a file size greater than the 2 GB (actually 2048 MB) file size limit--so dividing by 3 gives 1494 MB--so that's the split file size that will maximize the storage on the DVD using a Ghost32 v8.2 files type.  (My calculation may be flawed--if so someone will correct my reasoning  Wink ! )  Note--the above forum thread is regarding saving Ghost 9/10 image files that do not have the DOS 2 GB size limit--but the idea is the same!

So, I have copied the *RESTOREGHOST.EXE* on the Ghost 10 Recovery Disk to my HDD, renamed it *ghost32.exe*, and it is located in this directory:  *G:\Ghost v10.x Info\RestoreGhost.exe renamed to Ghost32.exe\*.  I then open a command window in that directory, and type the command line: *ghost32 -split=1494*.  Ghost32 loads, and now when I create an image, each Ghost file will be 1494 MB's--except for the last one that will contain however many MB's are left over after the other 1494 MB image files have been created.


...


Here's the results of saving a partition using Ghost32 v8.2 and that command line switch to start it--and using Roxio's burning program to save those Ghost image files to a DVD--note that the file size in Roxio is not the same designation of *1494 MB*--but instead it's approximately *1,529,840 KB* (actual size varies depending on where Ghost can make the *cut-off* to end that image file--divide that number by *1024* and you will get approx. 1494), and in Windows Explorer it's approximately *1,566,557,755 kb* (divide that number by 1024 and then again by 1024 and you will get approx. 1494)!

Note--after placing three of the approx. 1494 MB files onto the DVD, there is approx. 320 KB of unused space indicated on the bottom *Estimated Project Size* information line.


...
 

____________________________________________________________________________________________

No question is stupid ... but, possibly the answers are Wink !
 
IP Logged
 
NightOwl
Radministrator
*****
Offline


"I tought I saw a puddy
tat..."

Posts: 5826
Olympia, WA--Puget Sound--USA


Back to top
Re: CD/DVD Write Option Unavailable
Reply #9 - Dec 3rd, 2006 at 3:23pm
 
GhostQuest

Quote:
Brian, you mentioned split size of the ghosted image. How do I control that from within those Ghost32 menus (running in the BartPE)?


Part II:

In addition to the Ghost32 v8.2 (aka RESTOREGHOST.EXE) program on the Recovery Disk, there is also the program *Ghost Explorer* (aka GHOSTEXP.EXE)--this program is a Windows based program as well--meant for DOS Ghost image files that have the extension of *.gho* and/or *.ghs*.  This program will mount those image file sets in an *Explorer-like* GUI and you can use it to extract files and directories from the image to your HDD.

Ghost Explorer also has the ability to *re-compile* your Ghost image set into file sizes of your choosing.

You open Ghost Explorer, then you use the *File* menu to *Open* the Ghost image set that you have on your HDD.  You will get a warning if your image set holds a NTFS partition that there will be multiple image file swapping to mount the image--if it's on a HDD this is of no consequence--but if it's on optical media--then you will have to swap out discs repeatedly--I have found you can minimize that swapping if you have two optical drives!  

When you open the first file of the image set on the first optical disc (usually *xxx001.gho*), the program then asks for the last file of the image set (you have to watch the top *title bar* carefully--it changes quickly and you may not notice what it's asking for--but it says *Please select the last file for the last segment in this image file*--that's *Symantec speak* for
the last file on the last disc of this image set
--(usually *xxx0zz.ghs*--where *zz* is the highest # of the set)--
if you put that last disc in the other optical drive
, and browse to it, and select that last file--Ghost Explorer will *automatically* read back and forth between those two discs without swapping--and if there are additional optical disc in between--Ghost Explorer will ask for those when needed.  On my test run, Ghost Explorer did not ask for the other discs besides the 1st and last disc until after beginning the *Compile...* process described below.

So, once the Ghost image file is mounted in Ghost Explorer, you now go to the menu item *View* and then to *Options*.  Here you can specify the *Span split point* in MB's--again for saving to DVD you would select *1494*, and probably one should put a check in the *Autoname spans* box.  Click *OK*.

Now, head to the *File* menu again--select *Compile...*, you then are presented with a *Save as* menu box--you should probably use a different sub-directory--and if wanted a different name so as to avoid overwriting any previous image files that may have the same name!  Once everything is selected, click *Save*, and you will now have a new image set with the needed file size for saving to you DVD!
 

____________________________________________________________________________________________

No question is stupid ... but, possibly the answers are Wink !
 
IP Logged
 
Brian
Demigod
******
Offline



Posts: 6345
NSW, Australia


Back to top
Re: CD/DVD Write Option Unavailable
Reply #10 - Dec 3rd, 2006 at 3:30pm
 
NightOwl wrote on Dec 3rd, 2006 at 12:46pm:
I don't use BartPE--so I don't know if you can open a *command window* in BartPE, and I don't know were the Ghost32 v8.2 program is located--

To get a Command Window in BartPE.....

Click GO > Command Prompt

ghost32.exe is in X:\Programs\ghost8.2

I tried NightOwl's    ghost32 -split=1494    and it does work in BartPE.
 
 
IP Logged
 

NightOwl
Radministrator
*****
Offline


"I tought I saw a puddy
tat..."

Posts: 5826
Olympia, WA--Puget Sound--USA


Back to top
Re: CD/DVD Write Option Unavailable
Reply #11 - Dec 3rd, 2006 at 3:48pm
 
Brian

Thanks for that addition and confirmation!
 

____________________________________________________________________________________________

No question is stupid ... but, possibly the answers are Wink !
 
IP Logged
 
Brian
Demigod
******
Offline



Posts: 6345
NSW, Australia


Back to top
Re: CD/DVD Write Option Unavailable
Reply #12 - Dec 3rd, 2006 at 3:58pm
 
GhostQuest ,

Quote:
I think I've answered except the partitioning and free space. Free space is 176GB, the 'only' partition shows up as 228GB. I put only in quotation marks because there may be one or two hidden partitions. 

The reason I asked was those with a single partition on their only HD and plenty of free space can use Ghost 10 to write an image of the C: drive to the C: drive. It can then be burnt to DVD and the image deleted from the C: drive.
 
 
IP Logged
 
GhostQuest
N00b
Offline



Posts: 3


Back to top
Re: CD/DVD Write Option Unavailable
Reply #13 - Dec 3rd, 2006 at 11:43pm
 
Brian wrote on Dec 3rd, 2006 at 3:58pm:
GhostQuest ,

The reason I asked was those with a single partition on their only HD and plenty of free space can use Ghost 10 to write an image of the C: drive to the C: drive. It can then be burnt to DVD and the image deleted from the C: drive.


Ahh, okay. I already ordered a second drive (which I guess is better in the long run anyway), so I'll file that bit of wisdom away for future use. Even with one drive, I have to use some of the techniques I learned from this board (BartPE etc.) to run Ghost32 standalone as Norton Save and Restore (I bought that instead of Ghost 10) will only do hot imaging - there's no standalone option for making images, only for restoring them (bummer).

El-Pescador, NightOwl, Brian, - I am in your debt. You folks have been extremely generous with your time and efforts. If/when I have any tidbits of wisdom to share on subjects this board covers I will certainly do so.

Thank you very much!
Smiley
 
 
IP Logged
 
El_Pescador
Übermensch
*****
Offline


Thumbs Up!

Posts: 1605
Bayou Country, USA


Back to top
Re: CD/DVD Write Option Unavailable
Reply #14 - Dec 4th, 2006 at 9:45am
 
GhostQuest wrote on Dec 3rd, 2006 at 11:43pm:
"... some of the techniques I learned from this board (BartPE etc.) to run Ghost32 standalone as Norton Save and Restore (I bought that instead of Ghost 10) will only do hot imaging..."

"Hot-imaging" and "cold-imaging" are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

El_Pescador wrote on Nov 30th, 2006 at 12:38pm:
If I remember correctly, Pleonasm said something to the effect that he maintained Norton Ghost 10 for running daily in normal fashion inside Windows XP -
yet by booting into the Windows Preinstalled Environment mode he could continue to use Norton Ghost Ver 8.2 for "partition-to-image" or "disk-to-image" operations without modification or adjustment
.

I suppose some would regard that as "having-your-cake-and-eating-it-too" Roll Eyes

EP
Cry
 

...
WWW  
IP Logged
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send Topic Print